This letter was sent Mar. 24 to Senator Steve Daines, Senator Tim Sheehy, Representative Ryan Zinke and Representative Troy Downing.
We are writing you on behalf of the Elkhorn Working Group (EWG), a citizen collaborative advisory group consisting of ranchers, hunters, anglers, recreation, and business people who share an interest in the management of Elkhorn Wildlife Management Unit.
We do so to express our concern and strong disagreement with the recent staff reductions in the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. We believe that the staff reductions were done without adequate process and evaluation of the important roles these personnel play and the far-ranging consequences for both good resource management as well as effects on the economy and the values we Montanans embrace. We are also concerned about the freezing of funding that has simultaneously occurred, resulting in the setting back, if not totally eliminating, a number of important field projects planned for this year as well as long-term initiatives. We are troubled about the consequences of these reductions and funding actions to all of our partner federal resource agencies.
